Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences
Course Proposal
General Education Advisory Committee
Queens College, City University of New York

I. Course Information

Course Title: 
Principles of Physics I

Credits: 
4

     Prerequisites: 
Math 151 (or Math 141, 142)

X

 Existing course, course number:  
Phys 145

 New course
Department:	
Physics

Department Contact:	
Lev Deych

Area of Knowledge and Inquiry
(select one)

	Reading Literature (RL)

	Appreciating and Participating 
in the Arts (AP)

	Culture and Values (CV)

	Analyzing Social Structures (SS)

X

	Natural Science (NS)

Context of Experience
(select only if the course emphasizes one of the following)

	United States (US)

	European Traditions (ET)

	World Cultures (WC)

Extended Requirements
(select only if the course meets one of the following)

	Pre-Industrial Society (PI)

X

	Abstract or Quantitative Reasoning (QR)

The following information is useful to the subcommittee to estimate the college's progress toward the goal of offering enough sections and seats in each Perspectives category. How often does the department anticipate the course will be offered?  Please also estimate the anticipated number of sections and number of seats per section.

X

 Every semester	number of sections: 
2

	number of seats per section: 
24

 Every Fall or  

 Every Spring 	number of sections: 

	number of seats per section: 

 Other:  

	number of sections: 

	number of seats per section: 

Course Description
Please include a course description.  If the course will include variable topics or be taught in various forms, please provide as many descriptions of specific sections as possible.

This class deals with fundamental principles underlying our understanding of the physical world around us. More specifically it is concerned with several areas of “classical physics,” which were developed between 16^th and 20^th centuries and which deal with objects that are not too small, and that are not moving too fast. In this class students will learn the basic concepts (motion, gravity, energy, temperature, etc.) and methods used by physicists in explaining properties of the natural world. They will also learn how discoveries in physics affected, technologically and culturally, western societies in 18 – 21 centuries. 
	Interaction between students and teaching staff is organized in the form of three components: lectures, recitations and labs.  Students learn material, however, not only during scheduled class times, but also during their preparation for classes. The preparation includes: reading a textbook and additional reading materials, solving homework problems, and performing other assignments deemed necessary by an instructor.
Main goal of lectures is to deliver main conceptual content of the studied material. Organization of lectures depends on individual styles of professors teaching the course, but active involvement of students in discussion of the subject matter will always be one of the main means of achieving this goal. 
Recitations play a more technical role: during recitations students sharpen their practical skill in applying new concepts to typical situations occurring in real life or during scientific inquiry. 
During labs, students are introduced to and obtain hands-on experience of empirical methods of scientific inquiry. They learn to design meaningful scientific experiments, use basic measuring devices and instruments, collect and analyze experimental data to make reasonable scientific inferences. 
	Topics in this class include: 
Mechanics: Kinematics (description of motion); projectile motion in everyday phenomena and in the history of physics, Newton’s laws as the foundation of a mechanical world view; models of the solar system from ancient Greeks to Copernicus and Kepler; Newton’s law of universal gravity and its implications for astronomy, cosmology and space exploration; momentum and its conservation, kinematics of collisions; mechanical energy and its conservation, general concept of energy and its application in physics and beyond; kinematics of rotation, absolutely rigid body as a new idealization  in physics; dynamics of rotation, torque, energy of rotation; hydrostatics and hydrodynamics, Bernoulli’s equation and its role for aviation; oscillatory motion, simple harmonic oscillator as a universal model of linear oscillations.    
Elements of kinetics and thermodynamics: Statistical approach to systems of many particles; ideal gas as the simplest model of a thermodynamic system; thermodynamic processes (isothermal, isobaric, isochoric, adiabatic); internal energy and the 1^st law of thermodynamics; 2^nd law of thermodynamics and heat engines; thermodynamics and industrial revolution; entropy.

II. Criteria for Perspectives Courses
Justification
Please describe how the course will address criteria for Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences courses. 
Be sure to include an explanation of the course’s specific learning goals for students to make a connection between these and the general criteria for Perspectives courses. 
1.	One of the goals of this course is to familiarize students with empirical and theoretical methods of physics. This goal is achieved by (i) placing main concepts discussed in the course in their historical and methodological context, and (ii) designing the laboratory component of the course in such a way that, in every lab assignment, students emulate processes involved in empirical methods of knowledge creation in physics.
2.	This course will provide students with a general picture positioning physics within wider field of natural sciences and larger society through a variety of means. First, students will be required to read additional texts of more general nature discussing historical, economic, and cultural background of physics discoveries studied in class. Second, lectures and recitations will use examples from adjacent disciplines and technological applications of studied concepts as illustrative material and practical problems. Third, students will be given special assignments reinforcing students’ understanding of cultural and technological role played by physics in the history of civilization.
3.	The course covers all of the material considered standard for calculus-based introductory physics courses. Through the combination of recitations, labs and homework assignments, students receive training enabling them to use this knowledge in upper level courses.
4.	The concept of time and change is one of the most important concepts in the course. In dynamics, students study reversible and periodic changes of position and state of motion of various physical objects; in thermodynamics they are introduced to an important concept of irreversible change and entropy as a physical way of defining the direction of time.
5.	The structure of labs in the course stimulates students to actively engage in obtaining empirical knowledge regarding concepts and phenomena discussed from a theoretical point of view.  

Criteria Checklist
Please be sure that your justification addresses all three criteria 1-3, below.  For criteria 4-8, please check all that apply and discuss these in your justification.

A Perspectives course must:

1. Be designed to introduce students to how a particular discipline creates knowledge and understanding.

2. Position the discipline(s) within the liberal arts and the larger society.

3. Address the goals defined for the particular Area(s) of Knowledge the course is designed to fulfill.

In addition, a Perspectives course will, where appropriate to its discipline(s) and subject matter:

 4. Be global or comparative in approach.

 5. Consider diversity and the nature and construction of forms of difference.

X

 6. Engage students in active inquiry.

X

 7. Reveal the existence and importance of change over time.

 8. Use primary documents and materials.

III. Course Materials, Assignments, and Activities

Please provide an annotated list of course readings and descriptions of major assignments or exams for the course, as well as distinctive student activities that will engage students in working toward the course goals discussed in the course description and/or justification.

Please include the author and title for each reading or text, along with a short description providing information about how the reading will contribute to course goals.

Compulsory assignments:

Problem solving assignments, developing ability to apply concepts to practical situations as well as enhancing students’ computational skills
Reading assignments will include regular textbooks and additional literature as determined by instructor. Possible examples may be: Excerpts from Galileo: “Two New Sciences”; Arthur Koestler "The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe"; A. Einstein and L. Infeld, “Evolution of Physics”

Additional assignments may be assigned at discretion of an instructor and may include:
oral presentations on topics devoted to historical context of the studied material and applications of physics in other sciences and technology; blogs in which students summarize their learning experiences and/or comment on societal issues related to material learned in class; Wiki entries, etc.

IV. Assessment

Perspectives courses must be recertified every five years, and we are seeking ideas for how to best carry out this assessment.  What forms of evidence that the course is meeting its goals as a Perspectives course would be appropriate to collect for this course during the next five years?  How would you prefer assessment to be conducted?  How might evidence of effective teaching and student learning be collected and evaluated?

Learning outcomes will be assessed in the course through a variety of means. First, students will be given three “mid-term” exams and a final exam, which will test students knowledge of concepts studied in the course, their ability to apply the concepts to practical problems, their understanding of historical context of the studied discipline and its role in development of society.
Second, Department of Physics traditionally conducts a survey of students’ opinion about courses taken at the Department; in the case of this course, the survey will be modified to reflect its PLAS designation. Third, at the end of the semester students might be asked if practical (at the discretion of instructor) to write a short final essay reflecting their understanding of the role of physics in society and how this course helped them to shape their view.

V.  Administration

What process will your department develop to oversee this course, suggest and approve changes, and conduct assessment?  Who will be in charge of this process?  Also indicate whether the course will be primarily taught by full-time or adjunct faculty, or by a combination of the two types of instructor.

The curriculum committee of the department will be in charge of designing, implementing and assessing learning outcomes of all PLAS courses. The chair of the committee will be in charge of the process. The course will be taught primarily by full time faculty. The curriculum committee will develop a unified curriculum for the course and oversee its actual implementation. The curriculum committee will also review and approve all final exams given in this course.

VI. Syllabus

Please attach a sample syllabus (or set of syllabi, for courses on variable topics or courses that will be taught in variable formats).

Some resources to guide syllabus construction:
 
•	The Provost's page outlining guidelines for syllabi:
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/provost/Cur_stud/Syllabus expectations.htm 
•	Sample syllabi for W courses, from Writing Across the Curriculum: http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/writing/wsyllabi.htm
•	Goals for Student Writing at Queens College:
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/writing/Goals.htm  
•	Harvard’s Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, suggestions for syllabus planning: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k1985&pageid=icb.page29695 
•	Lehman College’s Gen Ed Syllabi Project: http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/programs/generaledu/gened_syllabi_project.html 

Submit this completed form and a sample syllabus (or set of syllabi) by email to Eva Fernández (eva.fernandez@qc.cuny.edu), Director, Center for Teaching and Learning.